How Vodafone Became a Quiet Giant of the U.S. Mobile Industry

Its logo is ever-present in much of the world. But Vodafone is far from a household name in the U.S., despite its status as one of the three biggest players in the country’s cellular industry. And its role as a quiet giant could soon be coming to an end.

There is more chatter today that Verizon will soon make a move to buy out Vodafone’s 45% stake in Verizon Wireless, the country’s largest mobile operator — a deal that has been in the air for a while now. It will have to pay a healthy sum to make that happen — in excess of $100 billion, many think, and Vodafone is reportedly expecting a lot more than that, in the range of $125 billion, Reuters reports.

That values the stake not far short of Verizon’s current market value of $150 billion. In fact, after AT&T and Verizon, Vodafone’s stake in Verizon Wireless would stand on its own as the third biggest business in the industry.

That’s not bad work for a company whose brand, with more than 300 million subscribers, is a household name in much of the world but is virtually unheard of in the U.S. So how exactly did Vodafone get so big, so quietly?